Please join us for the final talk in CIPR’s 2023 Spring Series: Challenges and Opportunities for Democracy in Latin America

 

April 12, at 1pm via ZOOM: Register Here

 

Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser

Director Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales

Universidad Diego Portales (Chile)

 

 

The rise of the far-right is a global phenomenon that is dramatically affecting democracy. Its arrival in Latin America is very recent and in Chile it is being articulated by José Antonio Kast and the ‘Partido Republicano’. In this presentation, I will rely on both quantitative and qualitative data to examine who are those in favor and at odds with the far-right in contemporary Chile. Empirical evidence reveals that approximately 18% of the Chilean citizenry supports the far-right and approximately 60% of the population is against this political project. Moreover, those who are in favor of the far-right in Chile have a very homogeneous discourse, focused on the concepts of family, homeland, and security. By contrast, those who are against the far-right in Chile conceive it as a serious challenge to democracy but have very different discourses regarding the development model to which they aspire. As it will be discussed in this presentation, the empirical evidence for the case of Chile reveals the relevance of analyzing not only positive but also negative identification towards the far-right. In fact, this is crucial aspect for better understanding the electoral ceiling of the far-right.